


For All of My Life

by cadetcandito



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Awkwardness, Crushes, Euroshipping, Everyone Is Alive, Fluff and Humor, Gen, Humor, I Don't Even Know, I'm Sorry, Kaiba Corporation, Light-Hearted, M/M, McDonald's, Minor Original Character(s), Mutual Pining, My First Fanfic, My First Work in This Fandom, Romance, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Work In Progress, Working Out My Feelings Through Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-21
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-26 10:01:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,648
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14998454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cadetcandito/pseuds/cadetcandito
Summary: Ryou Bakura needs a part time job to pay for all the destruction his yami has made. Seto Kaiba has enough money to pay his surmounting debts several times over. When these two worlds collide, will peace or havoc ensue? Will Yami Bakura allow it? Reposted from ff.net!





	1. Broke

**Author's Note:**

> This is a repost of an old fic I wrote 12 years ago?! Rediscovered it when I opened my old Yahoo! email to retrieve my Starbucks password. Haha. 
> 
> Cleaned the writing up, and hope to continue where I left off all these years. 
> 
> '...' yami to hikari  
> "..." hikari to yami

The sun was high in the sky, and hardly a cloud was in sight. A dull summer haze had filled the atmosphere, enticing more than half of Domino's population into utter laziness. Ice cream vendors have come and gone, and trash bins were overflowing with plastic cups and spoons.

Many have locked themselves in their freezing air-conditioned rooms, entertaining themselves with old cartoon re-runs, video games, or the internet. The pitiful minority, who could not afford the aforementioned luxury of machine-generated cool air, had no choice but to wallow in the immense heat. Ryou Bakura was one of them.

Ryou was sitting with his legs crossed on the tiled wooden floor of his room. Beads of sweat ran down his forehead, his back, his torso, and drenched his entire body. His silvery white hair was messily tied into a high ponytail, but even this didn't help add relief from the heat.

His cheeks were slightly flushed pink, and his lips were slightly cracking due to dehydration. He absent-mindedly licked them, for his legs, like the rest of his body, were too lethargic to get up and grab a drink. The only form of cooling he had been an old electric fan blowing right at his face, but it did not really help a lot; the heat was just too much.

Despite his apparent physical discomfort with the sticky sweat practically clinging to his small body, he was too engrossed with what the solitary sheet of paper in his hand had to offer. It was a letter from his father, stating that his excavation work in Egypt had not been going well as planned. Cuts had to be made on Ryou's already modest budget, and this included the income Ryou made on his part-time job that he juggled together with his studies. 

It was bad news. Definitely bad news.

Well, at least school was out during the summer, and Ryou was certainly luckier than those named Jounouchi and Honda, who had to attend extra summer revision courses due to their consistent slacking. Regardless, the part-time job he had was stressful enough, and he did not need the Spirit of the Ring's meddling to sabotage his chances of getting a raise, and thus a much-needed larger paycheck.

' _I heard that',_  the millennium-old spirit growled from his soul room.

" _I bet you did. It's your fault that I'm struggling in the finance department now",_  Ryou mentally retorted, sticking out his tongue in the process.

' _You were the one who let me take control'_ , the yami casually replied, hiding a smirk.

" _You threatened to arson the whole restaurant if I didn't, you pyromaniac!"_  Ryou cried exasperatedly, rubbing his temples. His dark was as stubborn as Jounouchi sometimes.

' _Don't you dare compare me to that lazy gluttonous mutt.'_

" _Whatever."_

He and his darker half had created a closer 'bond' with each other after Battle City. They talked, or bickered, more, but at least the spirit did not just keep taking control of the poor light's body.

It was more of a give-and-take situation, actually. If the hikari provided the yami with enough 'entertainment', the yami would then stop harassing the hikari by taking control. Ryou did let the spirit out once in a while, though, and but often regretted it.

The aforementioned 'entertainment' to the yami would usually involve some havoc. This included sending stoplights to the Shadow Realm, creating a mass traffic jam and numerous car crashes, unceremoniously changing the "Open" sign to "Closed" in Devlin's game shop, and playing with the modern appliances Ryou had to use at work.

It was because of the spirit that Ryou was entangled in a web of lies, muttering poorly constructed excuses for his strange behaviour at work, as well as for the bizarre occurrences that have happened since his employment to the popular international food-chain known as McDonalds™.

These incidents included the uncharacteristic explosions of the beverage dispenser, especially when his co-worker Anzu Mazaki was using it, as well as the cashier going haywire, making its contents fly all over the girl, and the freezer occasionally imprisoning the poor Mazaki girl when she went in to fetch a few burger patties [1]. 

Ryou didn't know if his darker spirit hated the girl's close relationship to Yugi, or her obsession with friendship, or both. It was a common fact that Yami no Bakura hated Yugi, as well as his Yami, for constantly foiling his plans for World Domination™, as well as being a goody-two-shoes Pharaoh. As time passed, this hatred had branched out to even Yugi's close friends, or rather, hapless cheerleaders, as he liked to call them.

The only reason Ryou could hang out with them was because his dark wanted to keep a close eye on them, and in more than a few occasions, prank them to no end. The others could not place their suspicions on "innocent" Ryou, who easily feigned shock as the rest of them after each prank was successfully accomplished, while inwardly scolding the manically laughing spirit in vain.

It was also a known fact that the darker side of Ryou despised Anzu's friendship speeches, no matter how short or long they were, but it was usually the latter. Who in their right mind would be able to stand hour-long rants about friendship and unity anyway? Yugi, probably, but everyone except the oblivious Anzu knew that the poor boy was smitten to her. Who would be able to miss his purple eyes staring longingly at her while she made her revolting speeches? The poor guy was hopeless.

This aspect of the yami's hate was understood by Ryou, however, as the hikari shared this same annoyance and phobia to long grueling speeches. He did not act his basal impulses to attack Anzu with sharp pointy objects, though. The only reason for this was because he knew that the dancer was suffering enough under his dark's cruel intentions as it were.

' _You should be happy I haven't started on the machine that makes McFlurry™'_

" _I don't want even to think about it"_

' _You should. Think of the possibilities. Mazaki covered in the cold, white cream with the Oreo™ bits all over, with the contraption is in flames, smoking behind her. The fire alarm would go non-stop, and alert every fire station in the vicinity, while all the customers are soaked with the emergency sprinklers attached to the ceiling. She'll be fired for sure this time. Hilarious.'_ Then he cackled his trademark insane laugh.

Ryou shrugged his yami's comment off. His boss was getting suspicious of the equipment constantly breaking down. He couldn't risk not getting the promotion he had been working so hard for, especially since his employer had started to notice he was always on shift whenever Anzu "broke" any of the machines.

Ryou desperately needed a raise to get enough money to get the air-conditioner fixed, after his yami destroyed it, thinking it was a fridge, and stuffed all sorts of frozen products inside through the ventilators. Sighing at his dark's ignorance of the purpose and function of modern appliances, he laid his father's letter on top of the rising stack of bills, and picked up the newspaper to see if he could find a second part-time job to soften the blow of his father's sudden news.

McDonalds™, even though it was popularly known worldwide, hardly paid enough for the groceries and the apartment's utilities bill. Maybe Ryou could blame his dark for his insanely childish craving of playing with water in the bathroom, and his taxing gluttony for expensive raw steaks, but still… He needed another job, as hectic as his life already was.

Skimming over the "Jobs" section, he mentally crossed out the jobs that he had worked at before. These included the supermarket, which the yami had an enjoyable time making watermelons explode and having frozen meat products suddenly come to life and curse random passerby with his shadow magic.

Then came the accounting job, when the computers would just "magically" be filled with either viruses or porn, usually the latter, and the calculators do the "log" function instead, every time one pressed the "multiply" and "add" button.

Needless to say, those jobs did not go very well, and the spirit would just do something that made Ryou seem like a taboo to the industry. The only reason McDonalds™ didn't fire him yet, was because all the strange things were happening to Anzu, not him.

The girl should have regretted the day she passed in her application form, with only the goal to get closer to Ryou at heart. Her obsession with being friends with the whole population was certainly paying off. In a negative way, that is.

One of the job applications caught his eye and awakened Ryou from his reminiscing and digressing. The ad was plain and simple. It read:

_Opening for part-time assistant at Kaiba Corporation. Details and pay to be discussed. Interview to be held at 18th to 22nd of May, 2pm to 5pm. For more inquiries, call 810-56943._

Ryou knew that Kaiba Corporation was one of the largest companies in Domino. If the interview went smoothly, he'd soon be rolling in cash. He knew that despite Yugi-tachi's obvious disapproval of anything related to Kaiba, Ryou needed the money, and he needed it fast. His sweaty body constantly reminded him of precisely how crucial this was.

A lot of people hated the smug, arrogant CEO, but in this case, Ryou had no other choice.

' _Don't tell me you're actually going to work for the priest.'_

" _It's just an interview, no harm done, right? And how many times do I have to tell you, he's not a priest. He's a CEO. C-E-O."_

' _Whatever you say, hikari. He's still that annoyingly moronic priest to me. I don't want you to even be fifteen meters within the radius of him.'_

" _And why not? It's the highway to big money."_

' _From what I recall…That priest was known for being a closet pedophile. Kept harassing all those new servant boys from Israel."_ [2] the yami said with a grunt.  _"I don't want the body that I share with some modern sissy geek boy even be touched by that goon."_

" _One, he's not a priest. Two, even if he was, I'm sure he isn't a perv. He seems like a celibate kind of guy. Three, Kaiba Corporation is big, small chance of actually meeting with him. Happy?"_

' _Che.'_

" _C'mon, it's a new place for you to burn things up. A lot of TECHNOLOGY. TECH-NO-LO-GY."_  Ryou replied, emphasizing on the last word. Might as well turn his vulnerability into some sort of bargaining chip. 

'Go for it!' the spirit replied semi-sarcastically.

"Haha. I knew that you'd see it my way. And if you call me sissy geek boy again, no more macaroni and cheese pasta for dinner."

'Nooooo…!' the spirit hollered in mock-fear, before retreating to his soul room.

Grinning at the spirit's strange, but expected reply, Ryou stood up, stretched his limbs, and went to the phone and punched in Kaiba Corp's HR contact number.

He figured that he would need a shower later.

 

TBC

 

[1] I don't know for sure if McDonald's has that giant freezer the size of a room that contains all those frozen products... they probably do, right?

[2] Some Biblical reference to Israeli slaves in Egypt in days past. Not sure if the YGO arc overlaps with the Israel slaves era though

How was that for a start? Seto/Ryou isn't particularly popular, but it's been one of my favourite ships since the beginning of time. I think it might have something to do with the laid-back tone of the fics -- more verbal sass than anything, hehe.

Let me know your first impressions, comments and suggestions (:


	2. Light

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> '…' yami to hikari
> 
> "…" hikari to yami

Ryou ran a small but fluffy towel through his thick mass of hair, drying off his silver tresses.

He loved taking baths, especially when he felt particularly sticky before he did. The water washed away not only the oil and dirt from his skin, but also took away irritation, stress, and even fatigue from his senses -- even if all this was just temporary. 

Too bad even soothing bath could not take away a certain annoying spirit from his midst.

' _D'oh, I sensed that, you know…'_

" _I bet you did, Einstein, since we do share a body, and technically, a mind as well."_

' _Whatever. I still can't believe you took up that Priest's job. It's degrading. Extremely so.'_

" _It isn't even confirmed if I get the job. Just going for the interview this Saturday. Plus, if I do get the job, we'd be able to pay off all the bills and get everything repaired in a month."_

' _May I remind you that those are your bills, not mine. Also, after we get things repaired, they WILL get broken in time, that I sincerely assure you, my dear hikari.'_

" _YOU were the main reason why I even needed the McDonald's™_ job!" Ryou growled mentally in frustration. _"Another word from you about this job, and I shall dream of flying pink unicorns and grasslands full of pansies. It will NOT be pretty for you."_

' _Ahh…Fair is foul, and foul is fair…'_

" _Stop quoting Macbeth, please, and quit fooling around in my head. You do remember how horrible I can make your life in my head be if I'm stressed, right?"_

' _Fine…Sissy bitch…'_

With that, the spirit retreated to his soul room.

Ryou sighed. As strange and irritating as those situations could get, he still could not imagine what life would be like without his dark. He could not seem to remember how his life had been when the ancient spirit was not around. For the past few years, he had been used to his lurking presence in his mind. The predictability of it all gave him a sense of calmness, in some strange way.

Earlier that day, Ryou had called Kaiba Corporation to inquire about the job. The secretary on the other line seemed to be extremely busy, and tersely gave a few additional details on the interview, like what to wear and the exact time and date of the appointment, before hastily hanging up.

Kaiba's employees could learn a thing or two about etiquette, Ryou thought. But then again, they were Kaiba's employees... 

Ryou's interview was to be held three days after he made his phone call, at 3pm, in Kaiba Corporation HQ.

Great, he had three days to learn interview skills, speak normally, and make sure his yami would be too occupied to interfere on that particular day. 

It was starting to look like the 72 hours leading up to the interview wasn't enough. 

It did not bother him that he was trying to get a job from who was probably Yugi's greatest rival, as well as the person who ranked high in his yami's list of "Annoying Re-incarnations of People from Ancient Egypt".

Well, there weren't a lot of people who qualified to be in that list to begin with, but still...The possibility was quite high that the spirit would go all-out to spite the members of said list whenever the opportunity arose. 

Ryou couldn't understand his dark, sometimes. He doubted he ever will.

 

* * *

 

Seto Kaiba was not as heartless as people give him credit for, with his stoic attitude and seemingly arrogant behavior.

His steely cobalt eyes and towering stature easily make anyone intimidated by him. And even a fleeting glare from the young CEO would instantly make anyone under its reach scamper from his sight. 

Kaiba found a teeny tiny space in his heart to forgive people who were naturally hopelessly idiotic, but not to those who intentionally acted retarded, often giving others a false impression of themselves.

(He did not include Jounouchi under this category, as dogs are known to be of a lesser species than humans, and have an IQ slightly higher than those of goldfishes and guppies. He hated animals. They gave him allergies).

He accepted the fact that there were people who had certain mental illnesses, such as multiple personality disorders, for one. He could make sense of that; life isn't perfect.

What sickened him, however, was if people did nothing to rectify their problems, and intentionally burdened everyone around them with their incompetence. Their indolence provoked the older Kaiba to be more than a little annoyed with these people, given the sacrifices he made to be as successful as he was at the present day.

He didn't dislike imperfection. He just disliked those who didn't work on themselves, despite the many opportunities to do so. 

Seto Kaiba wasn't a fan of many things. In particular, he was never fond of those who craved attention and made a racket anywhere they went, their voices blaring as though amplified through loudspeakers. 

Given this pet peeve of his, it made sense that Kaiba never had a soft spot for Yugi and his retinue of cheerleaders.

What added salt to his ire what when the smaller boy began beating him at Duel Monsters despite his own superior deck, and he could do nothing but watch his Duel Monsters career careen into the abyss. Taking the series of defeats all too personally, he began insulting spiky haired boy's close-knit group of friends. They, in turn, started distancing themselves from him too. 

Even the "friendship lover" Mazaki stopped trying to be friends with him, after he publicly humiliated her at school, "unintentionally" making her trip down the school's main entrance steps while she was halfway through one of her brain-killing friendship speeches.

Kaiba didn't mean to be rude. He didn't mean to be anti-social. It was just a defense mechanism of sorts, his way of making sense of the new reality he found himself in. The new reality that he wasn't the absolute best at everything -- Duel Monsters in particular.

And hey, it wasn't as if his rudeness wasn't appreciated. He noticed one of Yugi's friends -- Bakura, he thinks -- betray a split-second snicker when Mazaki "tripped", before quickly hiding all evidence of amusement beneath a facade of concern for the group's lead "cheerleader". 

Speaking of his white-haired schoolmate, Bakura was listed as one of the candidates Kaiba was to interview for a new opening at Kaiba Corporation in a few days. Bakura's application certainly piqued Kaiba's interest enough -- he didn't have the impression that Bakura, or anyone in Yugi's group other than Jounouchi, was in want of cash. 

Kaiba didn't reserve the same extent of irritation for Bakura as he did for the rest of Yugi's group.

In fact, Kaiba reserved a bit of respect for him.

The mysterious duelist never cheered as wholeheartedly (read: annoyingly) as the rest of his comrades, and was quite the able duelist who won his fair share of matches. He held his own weight in the game, even when circumstances turned bleak. 

Despite his capacity to sometimes laugh maniacally on the Duel Monsters area, Ryou Bakura seemed the most sane out of Yugi's little group, usually quiet and anti-social on most occasions that didn't involve the card game. 

Ryou Bakura was an interesting specimen, Kaiba thought. And given his history with Duel Monsters, we know that Seto Kaiba never takes his interests lightly. 

For his own reasons, Kaiba was looking forward to the interview as much Ryou was.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 done! What awaits our two lead characters in their fated meeting? More to come in the next chapter!


	3. Interview - Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> '...' yami to hikari  
> "..." hikari to yami

Finally, the day of the long-awaited Kaiba Corp interview.

Dressed in a simple pale blue button-up shirt, dark jeans, and recently shined leather shoes, Ryou made his way to the famous-or infamous-Kaiba Corporation headquarters the only way he could afford - by walking.

Heck, after Bakura had ever so ignorantly sold off his bike for scrap metal, and used the profits buying those silly cat figurines that wouldn't stop bobbing their heads, there was no other means of transport for Ryou other than his own two feet.

Contrary to popular belief, the snowy haired yami did have weaknesses as well, and in this case, it was a soft spot for adorable cats and kittens. [1]

Their backyard was littered with stray cats of all shapes and sizes that meowed like no tomorrow. More cats equated to more luck, Yami Bakura seemed to believe. And while layman logic would suggest more cats meant more prosperity for Ryou by extension, the felines have brought nothing but constant migraines and an uncharacteristic short fuse for the white haired boy. 

Bakura was on the verge of adopting a litter of kittens from the pound, but that was where Ryou put his foot down.

Even though the soft-spoken teen was known for his humanitarian and nature-loving ways, there was no way he would be able to stand the felines' never-ending symphonic orchestra right outside his house. Not to mention the smell. It that were to happen, his hair might turn whiter than it already was, if that were even possible.

Also, there was no telling to what havoc the creatures were to cause inside a house filled with relics from Ryou's father's numerous archaeological digs. Those dusty, oddly shaped slabs of rock were said to be each worth at least 3 figures in US dollars, when auctioned. Despite Ryou's current penniless situation, there was no way he was to sell off those seemingly useless pieces of stone. He'd rather face a thousand years in the Shadow Realm than face his father's unrestrained rage.

Apparently, those slabs of rock were of sentimental value to his father. Ryou wished his father would treasure his son's well-being more than the ancient rocks he dug up halfway across the world. 

Coming back to the present, Ryou had no choice to walk more than a few kilometers through the busy metropolis, too broke to hire a cab. He also believed too much in self-preservation to ask Honda to ferry him to Kaiba Corporation in his motorcycle. Everyone knew how wild the usually quiet pointy-haired brunet could be, after his accident a few months ago involving blindfolding and speeding at twice the speed limit. Needless to say, the pointy-haired teen went on considerably less dates after that.

Gazing at the long sidewalk ahead while squinting at the sun's scorching rays, Ryou muttered, "Oh well, might as well get on with it."

 

 

* * *

 

 

"Mr. Kaiba, a boy named Ryou Bakura is here to see you for an interview," the grim-faced secretary on the counter said on the intercom.

Ryou cringed inwardly, a 'boy'!

'Young man' would be more appropriate. 'Someone' would be acceptable. But 'boy'!

Sure, he knew he looked innocent and all that, but still...Being regarded as a boy definitely injured his ego.

_'Oh, you have an ego? Alert the newspapers! The media! The chalk-haired wanna-be Briton actually has an ego!'_

_"You, not now. First, my hair is not like chalk in any aspect. Second, you can annoy me later about this. Not now."  
_

_'Heh, why not? I can annoy you all I want, any time I want. We share a mind, remember? You aren't getting rid of me anytime soon. Deal with it.'_

_"I should have asked Yugi's Yami for that separation spell he used to get himself his own body. Anything to get your nagging voice out of my head..."_

_'YOU were the one who didn't want it in the first place.'_

_"Well, I had rather to suffer on my own than get the whole world suffer with me. I regret my philanthropic intentions now though. I didn't do anything to deserve you."_

_'Aww...C'mon Ryou-chan, don't be so stressed out. At least I was there for you when you were harassed by mormons the other day at the station, right?' [2]_

_"You sent them to the Shadow Realm, big deal. You do that to mostly everything that stands in your way, even to dust bunnies."_

_'But I was worried that you had allergies to the Ra-damed blobs of grey!'_

_"Right..."_

_'Hey, you know, that woman with that ugly black thing framing her eyes had been yelling at you for the past thirty seconds or so.'_

_"For the last time, they're called spectacles, okay? Wait...Oh crap."_

At that moment, Ryou realized that he had physically appeared to have spaced out for the past few minutes, while mentally conversing with his yami.

The secretary had tried to catch his attention by first calling him, then waving, and finally yelling at him.

'Great job at getting a good first impression,' Ryou thought. 'Just great. Kaiba would be begging to get you to work for him now...Not.'

"Sorry miss, I was just thinking of...uh...my poor starving brother at home who doesn't have a scrap to eat, while melting in the heat. Thinking of him just gets me so sad. I'm so sorry I zoned out like that." Ryou lied, pathetically.

_'What the hell...!'_

The woman adjusted her think black-rimmed glasses, glaring at Ryou. "I was trying to tell you that wants to see you now, boy."

Ryou swore she added the last part as an insult.

"His office is on the 8th level, turn left when you exit the elevator, and it should be the first room you would see." She finished, her tone dull, monotone, and pissed off.

"Right, thanks."

Ryou slowly made his way towards the elevator, while his dark's voice continued to ring in his mind.

_'Oooh looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today.'_

_"I told you, not now, Bakura."_

They continued bickering until Ryou reached the 8th storey. Forcefully shutting the talkative spirit in his soul room, he slowly walked towards Kaiba's office, smoothed the creases in his shirt and briskly tied his messy hair into a low ponytail. Cold sweat started forming on Ryou's forehead, and for the first time in the day, he genuinely felt nervous. All the previous mental arguments he had with Bakura put his mind off the matter at hand -- and now, Ryou wasn't quite sure if the distraction was a good or a bad thing. 

Suddenly feeling extremely timid, Ryou carefully opened the mahogany door to Kaiba's office, as though it would self-destruct with even just an added ounce of force.

Kaiba's office was everything he could have imagined, and more. The floor was carpeted in a rich navy blue, and the wall was kept empty, except for a few framed photos of Mokuba - Kaiba's only living relative. Located in the far end of the room was a large obsidian table covered with various files and papers. Behind the table, there sat the one and only Seto Kaiba.

Calm blue eyes met quivering chocolate-brown ones.

"Well, well, Ryou Bakura, I've been waiting for you."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cliffhanger, hehe. I couldn't resist... More to follow soon! 
> 
>  
> 
> [1] The Ancient Egyptians were cat worshippers, and it seems Yami Bakura isn't exempt from the cat love. Hehe. 
> 
> [2] This was a true incident that happened to my friend. I was a bit late to our meeting, and Mormons had approached him, apparently... Needless to say, I was blamed for the harassment. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Note: Just saw a post on tumblr that said people into Euroshipping are probably into crack ships. Haha. Somewhat accurate reflection of my personal interests, as well as the developments in this fic, I suppose. 
> 
> '…' yami to hikari
> 
> "…" hikari to yami

All was silent.

Too silent.

Silent enough, that one might think that the whole world's population, cars, babies, and mockingbirds have all evaporated into thin air.

That was, until an ear-piercing shriek was heard in the distance.

"What kind of question is **THAT**!" Ryou uncharacteristically bellowed at the stoic CEO, who merely stared at the normally timid albino as though what was happening was not out of the natural.

"I just asked your sexual preference: if you are straight, gay, or bi. Does the question require this much of a fuss?" The cobalt eyed brunette replied.

"Yes it is! It's personal and unprofessional! Is this a staple in your interview routine?!" The pale-faced teen continued, inching further and further away from his potential boss.

Emphasis on potential — the likelihood of Bakura getting the job was dwindling by the minute. Much like his composure. 

' _Treat it like any other_   _question, hikari,'_ Bakura mentally chastised the agitated teen, emphasizing the last word he spoke.

 _'Just answer the man._ _Unless a certain someone isn't sure what he is… Hmmm?'_

" _You. Shush."_ Ryou said, or rather thought, blatantly to his darker half. He was still shooting the other occupants of the room a questioning glare, while inching towards the door.

”Why would you even ask that, Kaiba?! Shouldn’t you be more interested on the skills I can offer your company?”

"Why, of course I’m interested in that. It’s why I asked,” Kaiba replied slowly, as though giving instructions to a child. His blue eyes remained stoic, and betrayed no notion of annoyance or impatience.

Ryou maintained his look of suspicion towards the other man. 

“Wha-?”

“Think about it, Ryou. I simply asked, so I would know if this were welcome…"

The young CEO suddenly moved forward, closing the physical distance that Ryou had been creating between them. 

It was as though time came to a sudden stop. The room was so silent, the soft billowing of Kaiba’s trenchcoat was the only sound to be heard. 

One hand gently caressed Ryou's cheek, and the other gingerly grasped his sleeved arm.

The taller teenager moved closer. Close enough for Ryou to smell the cologne he wore. 

Soothing. Soft. Familiar. Like baby powder? 

Let’s go into Ryou’s brain to see how he’s doing, shall we? 

Little Ryou lemmings — all wearing his signature blue and white striped t-shirt, but also little hardhats and construction boots — were in mayhem. A siren blared in the distance, amidst white-haired lemming shrieks.

_Seto Kaiba is touching me! Repeat! Seto Kaiba is touching me! His cologne smells like baby powder! This is not a drill!_

The little Ryou lemmings continued running in circles around what could only be the metaphorical insides of his skull. Nothing conclusive was really achieved by this little digression. 

"What the…" Ryou managed to finally muster. Pink started to invade his otherwise pale features, as he began to mentally register what was happening. 

_Seto Kaiba likes me?!_

_‘Your choice of words really show off your wide vocabulary, hikari. Way to seal the deal with Domino’s most eligible bachelor.’_

If his yami had the physical ability to slow clap, Ryou was sure he would.

Coming back to the reality of his situation, Ryou didn’t know what to do. His chocolate brown eyes filled with bewilderment and embarrassment.

Kaiba's face was only a few centimeters to his own now. The taller teen's husky, baby powder scented breath sent involuntary shivers to his spine.

”What do you think, Ryou? Could this be part of our future?” 

"Wha-" 

"Ryou? RYOU!"

"I DON’T KNOW! I’M SCARED OF THE FUTURE!"

Once again, stunned silence was the only thing to be heard in the whole room.

"…Uhh, what, sorry?" Ryou replied sheepishly, upon realizing he awoke from his daydream.  

He tried to do a quick save, smiling as innocently as he could to the confused Anzu, who had just fallen prey to Ryou’s post-daydream PTSD outburst.

Quickly regaining her composure (friends allow their friends to occasionally act out of character if they promise to forget what happened),  Anzu replied with her perfect cheerleader smile, "I'm going for my dinner break now, can you man the cashier for a while?"

"Huh? Mmm, yeah, sure. Enjoy your dinner."

Once Anzu was out of sight, Ryou banged his delicate white head upon the wall of the famous food chain he was in.

It’s been a day since that fateful interview, but that particular incident kept invading Ryou’s idle thoughts when he least expected it. 

Who knew that the notorious, unapproachable CEO was either gay or bi?

' _Awww…My hikari's all grown up. Who knew that you were the very epitomy of sex appeal for closeted, angry CEOs? I'm so proud of you!'_

"Y _ou actually find it fun to taunt me in this way, do you?"_

' _Gasp! Of course not, dear hikari! The only hikari I’ll ever have!'_

" _Mmmm_ _… Since when did you start calling me hikari?"_

' _It sounds adorable, don't you think?'_

" _Coming from mou hitori no Yugi, it sounds normal. It makes you sound like a desperate molester, though. It’s not in-character for you to be the big brother, friendly type of spirit. Accept it. I have.”_

' _Oh fiddlesticks, what should I call you then?'_

" _First of all, never use the word 'fiddlesticks'. It makes you sound like a sissy. And that’s coming from me. Secondly, you never really called me hikari, why start now?"_

'Y _our accusations wound me. I merely wish to have a closer relationship with my other half'_

" _Mmmm…You want something, don't you? You didn't act like this yesterday."_

'…'

" _Well?"_

' _Fine, you caught me. Can we torture Anzu today?'_

" _Nope."_

' _Please?'_

" _No. Not another word."_

' _Why! Have a soft spot for her? Hmmm?'_

" _Never in a million years. Quiet down."_

' _Ryou and Anzu sitting in a tr…'_

" _Do you want your ice cream for dessert today or not?"_

' _Ice cream! Which flavour?_

" _Strawberry."_

' _Ohh…Fine, I'll quiet down, for now…But I'll be back…Bwahaha– '_

Ryou closed their mind link. Having a yami as hyper, and strangely childish, as Bakura was tiring to no end.

Grabbing a stool, he rested his upper body on the counter.

McDonald’s was unusually empty that day, with only a few customers silently munching their meals in the restaurant.

Without his dark’s interference, the pale-skinned teen found himself reminiscing yet again on what happened afterwards at his meeting with the CEO.

 

* * *

 

“What do you think, Ryou? Could this be part of our future?”

Before Ryou could manage a coherent response (recall: panicking lemmings), Kaiba’s secretary buzzed the intercom.

“Your next meeting in 5 minutes, sir,” the disembodied voice mechanically stated.

The sheer contrast of her voice to the surmounting tension in the CEO’s office felt like a cold slap of reality for Ryou. He became aware that he had been learning towards the brunet’s touch, and self-consciously slid out of it.

Too concerned with his own mannerisms, Ryou didn’t notice Kaiba’s cobalt eyes tense in disappointment at the shorter boy’s reaction. 

He really needed to have a chat with that Yamato girl about her timing. 

Meanwhile, Ryou was still trying to fully register what just happened. It was all too surreal. 

_Seto Kaiba. Flirting? Bodily contact? With quiet, invisible Ryou Bakura, of all people?_

It was the pinnacle of dreams for most teenage girls, and some teenage guys, for Kaiba to merely give them a passing glance. Even brushing past him would probably be heaven for them.

As much as that seemed like a twisted exaggeration, Ryou couldn't help but imagine the mobs of Kaiba fan girls (and fan boys) out there, ready to hunt him down to kingdom come if they ever found out.

Heck, if they found out, he would be burned alive while tied on a wooden stake, for all he knew. While prayers were chanted for him to be reincarnated as a cockroach. 

Resuming his stoic self, Kaiba quickly announced his leave soon after. He brusquely informed the disoriented teen he'd soon be notified if he got the job or not.

Ryou’s financial concerns were the furthest from his mind then. He couldn’t care less.

Regaining control over his two legs, he jumped up and raced out of Kaiba's office at the speed of, well, Ryou, and half-consciously made his way back home, with his yami's teasing cackles in his wake.

A day has passed since then, and Ryou found himself making his way back to McDonald’s for his shift.

His bills had just come in the mail, and he couldn’t stay agonizing in his sheets forever. 

Now, thinking about it, Ryou realised that the teenaged billionaire only looked through the bio data in his CV and asked a few standard questions about his past job experiences, to which the pale-skinned teen relayed his present employment at McDonalds, skillfully emitting anecdotes of Anzu and burning patty fryers. It was after that when the CEO asked Ryou about his sexuality, which leads us back to the present day. 

They say hindsight is always 20/20, but despite his constant reflection of the previous day’s events, enlightenment was still beyond reach. 

"Hey mister, can I order something?" A male child's voice suddenly came from the other side of the counter. There was something about the kid's dark hair and eyes that Ryou couldn't place…It was as though he knew the kid, from somewhere. 

"Huh? Yeah, welcome to McDonalds, may I take your order?" Ryou managed a grin. He loved it when kids came to order. They were just refreshing as customers, compared to the angsty teens and grouchy middle-aged men he usually encountered.

And they didn't know how to swear just yet.

"A double cheeseburger for me, and a Big Mac for big brother. Also, large fries and two large Cokes to go."

"Okay, coming up…"

Ryou skillfully grabbed the burgers, scooped up some fries and put them in the to-go bag, and was in the middle of filling up the large cups with the dark beverage when he heard a voice so strikingly familiar…

"Akira, what's taking so long? We need to be quick if you want to catch the soccer match tonight…Ryou! What are you doing here?"

"…Otogi?"

Ryou then figured out why the kid looked so familiar. Stylish dark hair, bright green eyes… Of course the kid was related to the one and only Otogi Ryuuji.

Even the way he dressed was somewhat punk-ish. At least the kid, Akira, didn't wear leather yet. Although it probably wouldn’t be long when he would start doing so…

"Earth to Ryou. Hello…?"

"Oh, sorry, Otogi!"

' _I can't believe you're so polite to everyone else but me.'_

This time, Ryou plainly ignored his dark, and listened to what Otogi had to offer.

"You're more out of it than usual, buddy. So, are you _that_ broke to be working in a place like this?"

"Yeah, I guess you could say that," Ryou muttered, glancing at his dark blue uniform.

"Why didn't you tell me then? You could work for me!" Otogi exclaimed.

"…You? As what, a toy organizer?" The snowy-haired teen replied, somewhat sarcastically.

He didn't like the way the conversation was going. He still had Kaiba's proposition in waiting. Regardless of Kaiba’s strange behaviour the previous day, Ryou was sure his multi-millionaire slash billionaire classmate was definitely more capable than Otogi in the finance department. 

"Better yet! An accountant! Those books need some balancing!" Otogi grinned, as Ryou rubbed his temples.

How could he willingly enter the employ of someone who didn’t even have his books right?

"Look, I'm not good at math…And I'm not really intere–"

"So am I, but hey, I'm a game inventor!"

"…Uh, your point?"

"I meant that anyone could do anything they set their minds to!"

"Otogi, I'm not–"

"C’mon, give it a try! It should be better than working at this joint, right?"

Ryou knew it was probably in his best interest to not mention Kaiba’s proposition to Otogi at this point. Duel Monsters wasn’t the only card game the white-haired teenager knew how to play. 

"Are you really THAT desperate, Otogi? I told you, I’m bad at math!"

"Well, you're the only person I know who would be willing to work with a low salary, if you're working at McDonalds now…"

The albino sweatdropped at the dice master's statement. "But, I like it here,” he said slowly. “Why won't you ask Anzu?"

"She works here too? Ooh, so she was the one who caught fire in the newspapers…” Otogi seemed to be distracted a bit by the thought. 

“I wouldn’t want my office to catch fire though, so she’s out.” Ryou grimaced at the irony of the situation.

“So, would you please at least give my proposal a thought before you say no?"

"Err… Fine. I'll think about it, if that’s what makes you happy."

"Onii-chan..." Akira chirped, and whispered something to Otogi while giggling softly. The green-eyed teenager chuckled in response.

"Oh...Ah, and Ryou?"

"What?" Ryou replied, slightly annoyed at the point in time.

"My coke…" Otogi said, while pointing to Ryou's hand, which was still pushing the cup towards the dispenser. Said dispenser was now spewing the sticky sweet substance all over Ryou's arm, uniform, and the recently mopped floor.

"Oh man... Anzu's so going to kill me," he muttered.


End file.
